In 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis. His elevation immediately galvanized world attention. TIME Magazine named him Person of the Year and Rolling Stone put him on the cover. The Vatican announced Francis would come to the U.S. in September 2015. The visit would include a meeting with President Obama and a speech to Congress, a stop in New York to address the U.N. plus visits to other venues in Manhattan, and participation in the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.

Stanton Communications, in partnership with the Archdiocese of New York and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, provided media logistics support for Pope Francis’ first visit to New York City. Over the course of more than five months, the team:

Engaged with more than 7,000 members of the media from across the globe to cover the events.

Established media positions, assignments and protocols for more than 1,000 journalists covering events at the 9/11 Memorial, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Madison Square Garden, among others.

Made it possible a mere 2 weeks prior to arrival for over 300,000 people to see the Pope in Central Park and give him a true New York Welcome.

Pope Francis’ favorability made significant gains among Catholics and among Americans overall in the wake of his Sept. 22-27 visit to the U.S. Fifty-six percent of Americans said they now feel better about their own faith because of his visit, including 86 percent of practicing Catholics.

“We simply could not have brought these events to New Yorkers without your help and skill. These were a beautiful series of events and I can tell you our newsroom was humbled by the experience. It was wonderful to see all New Yorkers come together for this incredible week.” — WABC

Pope Francis’ historic American tour dominated press coverage not only in the U.S. but across Latin America and much of Europe, with television, newspapers and websites reporting the “rockstar reception” he received stateside, and editorials from Brazil to Berlin praising his forthright critique before the U.S. Congress of capitalism, immigration policy and climate change.

The collaborative effort ultimately resulted in highly coordinated coverage of this historic event that garnered praise from journalists reporting on site and extended the reach of the visit beyond the three cities where millions of people around the world saw the event.